Help With Film Noir

M

mickey1986desai

New member
hey everyone, i'm new to this site. i know some users have already touched on this topic but it would be great if u guys could help me out with this.

i'm going to be doing a 5 mins film and i've decided on idea of making it look very film noir. i'm wondering whats the best way to go about achieving this look for my film in terms of camera techniques and lighting...

any kind of help will be greatly appreciated and credited too!

thanks in advance
 
I would start by lowering the Master Pedestal setting down to -10. That will give you a nice richness to your picture.

Your end result will be B/W?
 
Hi Mickey:

It's simple. Rent the best film noir and study it and emulate it as best you can. Noir is more than the look, a lot of it is the attitude of the story and how the story is told. Noir is typically hard-edged, brutal and cynical storytelling.

As far as the look, the other posters have it right, it's all about the shadows. Typically large single key with little to no fill and creative use of rim/hairlight. Smoke is also typically used for interiors (back then it was motivated as cigarette smoke, but is your tale modern or retro?).

Good luck. You can totally get a great noir look with the DVX, it's perfect for it. I would also NOT shoot anamorphic, most noir was shot extremely low budget in 4x3.

Dan
 
Mickey,

Back in 2006 I made a film noir with the dvx100. It was for a 36 hour film festival. You can check it out here:

http://www.lulu.tv/?p=4448

That was the original edit.

The biggest part of selling it being a film noir is the lighting. Low key, harsh shadows and lots of contrast. Also, I set my master pedestal to -12.

Good luck on your shoot!
 
hey thanks to all you guys man. really really appreciate all the help.
i'll be sure to let you guys see the final done once i'm done!
 
Hmm probably a bit late but these are my favorite bits to shoot.

Keep your background fill minimal if you need any try to keep the apparent source of illumination higher then the subject. Jack and the other posters are right the darkness/shadows what you don't show should be more important then what you do.

A few 150s with proper gels/scrims are the single most valuble tool I think. You can use higher wattage lamps for single source or pools of light but with the smaller lights you can paint highlights across actors or objects.

Noir is fun...
Last time I shot a sequence that way though I hadn't tried the -10 master ped... I think I'll give that a go sometime soon. I love this forum.
 
My favorite Film Noir style lighting is in Casablanca. Granted the film itself may not fall into the category because of story type, but it had the look down perfectly. It is such a beautifully lit film. Check it out, and watch in detail.
casablanca-cologe1.jpg


Talk about painting with light.

It really is my favorite genre. Hmmm... maybe the next dvxuser fest... eh? Eh?
 
Check out Touch of Evil by Orson Welles a true film noir masterpiece. Hitchcock was also a film noir master. Also check out M by Fritz-Lang and although in colour Chinatown too.
 
armisiano said:
My favorite Film Noir style lighting is in Casablanca. Granted the film itself may not fall into the category because of story type, but it had the look down perfectly. It is such a beautifully lit film. Check it out, and watch in detail.
casablanca-cologe1.jpg


Talk about painting with light.

It really is my favorite genre. Hmmm... maybe the next dvxuser fest... eh? Eh?
Click to expand...

I agree, great lighting but nothing close to film noir. Noir is darker, grittier and cheaper looking. Casablanca is typical for the era big budget studio and most noir didn't appear until quite a few years after Casablanca. Most noir were made for $150,000.00 and a crazy director with a tiny crew out in the streets mostly although some sequences were studio bound.

I have produced several docs on noir and have interviewed Alain Silver and James Ursini, two of the top noir experts. Google them or check out their noir books on Amazon. I also did some featurettes for some films like "Laura", which are considered boderline noir, although I consider it more of a murder mystery romance. Noir is kind of like the supreme court's ruling on porn in the early 1970s, "I can't define it exactly, but I know it when I see it".

Best,

Dan
 
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